The midpoint of the 2009 MLS season, conveniently enough, dove-tails with the start of summer, and thus a staggering load of international competitions and friendly matches. The first half of the league season won't much resemble what follows, but for the past three months, these are the players who have been essential to their teams' success.

Contrary to popular belief, there's a very good reason for U.S. coach Bob Bradley not to rely on every MLS player who might be playing well when it comes to assembling a squad for Hexagonal qualifiers. In many cases, they don't measure up.

Conor Casey had nothing to say on the subject when asked a few weeks ago if he'd heard from U.S. coach Bob Bradley about a recall. "To be honest, I'm not thinking about that," said the bald, burly, bad-ass forward who ended a six-year stint in Germany last summer to sign with MLS. "I'm just trying to put together a good season." The season so far is eight goals, tacked onto the 11 he scored last year, most of them in the last two months following the departure of Coach Fernando Clavjio, who was ...